Neighbors cows

[Anonymous]

I have a neighbor who's pasture joins mine. He has about 8-10 cows of breding age in this pasture, also he has a bull, but in another pasture. He seems to refuse to bring his bull over to service his cows, knowing mine will break through any fence to get to his cows. This has happened twice in the last 2 months. His fence is about 30 years old or more. Mostly rusted and rotten. With no effort any bull can walk through his fence. I have field fencing with a strand of barbed wire on top that is only 3 year old. Who is responsible for the fencing? Is there in claims for me in stud fees? How much responsiblity does he have in this issue? I need help fast on this matter, because I can't get my bull back.

 

[Craig-TX]

Any fence between my neighbor and me is "the" fence or "our" fence, not "his." If my bull is the one getting out, it's my problem. If I get along well with the neighbor (a good policy) then it can be "our" problem but the onus is on me to get my bull back and keep him home. If my bull is tearing up the fence I should fix it. A lot of it gets back to getting along. In the real world it's usually whoever finds the fence down that fixes it. But still, the onus is on the party with the fence-jumping bull.

Craig-TX

 

[Cattle Rack Rancher]

Perhaps his bull isn't in with his cows because he is not ready to breed them back yet. It is always your responsibility to keep your animals within your fence. I know of one guy who got sued because his cow was out on the road and was hit by a car.

 

[CattleAnnie]

Try using an electric fencer on that section of fence. I was running one bunch of cattle on some lease land a few years back and had the problem that my bull wouldn't stay put. Always going north or south to fight with the other guys' bulls and romance their cows. Once I heated up the wire, he found a whole new respect for the fence. Made my life a whole lot easier, and kept him from injuring himself and the other peoples bulls.
Take care.

 

[dun]

MO has specific fence law that assigns responsibility to each person with a common fence. But I don't see this as a fence problem as much as a bull control problem.

dun

I have a neighbor who's pasture joins mine. He has about 8-10 cows of breding age in this pasture, also he has a bull, but in another pasture. He seems to refuse to bring his bull over to service his cows, knowing mine will break through any fence to get to his cows. This has happened twice in the last 2 months. His fence is about 30 years old or more. Mostly rusted and rotten. With no effort any bull can walk through his fence. I have field fencing with a strand of barbed wire on top that is only 3 year old. Who is responsible for the fencing? Is there in claims for me in stud fees? How much responsiblity does he have in this issue? I need help fast on this matter, because I can't get my bull back.

 

[CattleAnnie]

Another thought, those breeding age animals might be heifers. He may want them to calve later, and most definately will want them bred to a light birth weight bull for calving ease. Rather than owe you for stud fees, he might want to bill you for the cost of giving abortion shots to his animals.
Take care.

 

[lazyhill]

I had an issue where my pasture ran along the back of a wheat field. I had been running cows there for several years until one day. My neighbor put a bunch of unbred heifers on his wheat field. The fence between the two was knee high in spots but it was never a problem because my cows always had plenty of grass. Well needless to say, my bull walked over the fence to visit his girls one day. I was quite angry because he admitted that he knew the fence was in poor condition and that my bull could walk over it in spots. He showed no regard ahead of time that this could be an issue with his open heifers. To keep the peace, we both accepted fault. He leutalyse his heifers and I fixed the fence.

My point is like many others here. It is my responsibility to keep my bull home (even if my neighbor is aware of fence conditions). It is best to come to an agreement when an infraction has occurred and define who will do what as a result . I was lucky that he didn't want me to leutalyse his 30 heifers and he took on that responsibility as long as I fixed the fence and ensured that it not happen again.

 

[Campground Cattle]

I have a neighbor who's pasture joins mine. He has about 8-10 cows of breding age in this pasture, also he has a bull, but in another pasture. He seems to refuse to bring his bull over to service his cows, knowing mine will break through any fence to get to his cows. This has happened twice in the last 2 months. His fence is about 30 years old or more. Mostly rusted and rotten. With no effort any bull can walk through his fence. I have field fencing with a strand of barbed wire on top that is only 3 year old. Who is responsible for the fencing? Is there in claims for me in stud fees? How much responsiblity does he have in this issue? I need help fast on this matter, because I can't get my bull back.

This is the reasons my neighbors and I don't share fences, we came to an agreement long ago and have six foot lanes 3 feet on each side of the property line. There nothing like a good fence to avoid problems.
I am very fortunate as none of my neighbors or I will tolerate a Bull thats not satisfied at Home at the first sign of trouble they grow wheels. We also have a hot wire on our fences.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the info. I know it doesn't matter, but there are two fence lines and all of his cows have already calved this spring. No heifers involved. My bull is a registered black angus and will give him some really nice calves. I will either keep him at home or let him grow wheels. Thanks again!

 

[Oldtimer]

We're in a little different situation out here- several hundred or several thousand acre pastures with many of them only divided by a 3 wire fence. Thats where its nice to have good neighbors that run good bulls because they kind of have a tendancy to like the girls across the fence sometimes. My neighbor and I used to have a standing joke at bull sales about telling each other to make sure and get the top bulls- since they would be visiting my girls most.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Bull owner is responsible for all actions and behavior of his bull. It also helps (bulls or not) to have a quality fence that meets "legal codes" on your side, even if you have to put another good fence in front of neighbor's on your property. Bad fences = potential problems.

 

[TheBullLady]

I definately agree.. if my bull is getting out, no matter the condition of the adjoining fence, it's going to be my responsibility! One of our back neighbors had a scrub sale barn bull that was constantly getting in with my registered cattle.. not something I appreciated at all.

A hot wire on your side should fix your problem. If not, get a different bull.